22 April 2007
A few days later
25/04/07 08:59
Phew .. that was monumental,
exhausting, and let's not do that again in a hurry. We had four
very strong, and robust chaps running down stairs with two
sometimes three boxes of books on their backs and then trollies to
wheel the boxes up to two large trucks, across the gravel and steep
slope into the drive, by mid morning their speed had decreased as
their initial enthusiasm waned, and the endless supply of boxes
didn't seem to diminish. I had taken a small u-haul truck twice
over to the new house, full of garden furniture, plants, paintings,
'stuff' prior to all this - and it still took these men 12 hours to
empty, drive over and fill the new house.
The word 'fill' being the operative word, as box after box went down into the entertainment room - fancy word for a basement windowless room, and the garage, which filled with extra beds, armoires, tables that we wouldn't need any more or that we can't find space for. One of the young men broke a finger [or two] running through one of the doorways with boxes on his back, and hit the door jam - proprioceptors awry! Not a happy camper!
Anyway, here we are; new house, new space, new set of troubles as we iron out the idiosyncrasies that each new space provides. Phone lines absent, WiFi signals not being picked up, interference in the phone line or signal - vital lines of communication. So bear with us, as we struggle with phone companies etc whose automatic digital operator do not appear to be able to decipher the message, and to get real live people not in Calcutta, on the phone appears almost impossible.
Everyone around the neighborhood has been fantastic, coming over and introducing themselves, a far cry from the lack of communication that we experienced out on the sticks; so this is very encouraging. People stop and talk about the house being their favorite in the street, and it appears that the last owners were sociable and well liked - that entertainment room downstairs is decked out for large screen movies - he left the gear for us; so potentially we can have Wednesday evening movies with popcorn, ice-cream and intermissions - but not sure about the seats - perhaps unpacked boxes!
A week today we fly off to Austria for a shortish visit, Alicia will be back again after 8 days, so we leave Rebecca in charge of our new domain. I am sure she'll be pleased to be able to party here whilst we are gone; she just came back from Morocco after doing a short immersion course in Arabic in Fez. Found it diffficult there, I think mainly because she was always feeling as if she had no privacy and was being watched all the time. These cities can be difficult places when you are on your own, gregarious, white, woman and sassy. She was ready to come back.
The word 'fill' being the operative word, as box after box went down into the entertainment room - fancy word for a basement windowless room, and the garage, which filled with extra beds, armoires, tables that we wouldn't need any more or that we can't find space for. One of the young men broke a finger [or two] running through one of the doorways with boxes on his back, and hit the door jam - proprioceptors awry! Not a happy camper!
Anyway, here we are; new house, new space, new set of troubles as we iron out the idiosyncrasies that each new space provides. Phone lines absent, WiFi signals not being picked up, interference in the phone line or signal - vital lines of communication. So bear with us, as we struggle with phone companies etc whose automatic digital operator do not appear to be able to decipher the message, and to get real live people not in Calcutta, on the phone appears almost impossible.
Everyone around the neighborhood has been fantastic, coming over and introducing themselves, a far cry from the lack of communication that we experienced out on the sticks; so this is very encouraging. People stop and talk about the house being their favorite in the street, and it appears that the last owners were sociable and well liked - that entertainment room downstairs is decked out for large screen movies - he left the gear for us; so potentially we can have Wednesday evening movies with popcorn, ice-cream and intermissions - but not sure about the seats - perhaps unpacked boxes!
A week today we fly off to Austria for a shortish visit, Alicia will be back again after 8 days, so we leave Rebecca in charge of our new domain. I am sure she'll be pleased to be able to party here whilst we are gone; she just came back from Morocco after doing a short immersion course in Arabic in Fez. Found it diffficult there, I think mainly because she was always feeling as if she had no privacy and was being watched all the time. These cities can be difficult places when you are on your own, gregarious, white, woman and sassy. She was ready to come back.
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